Hunters Cry Fowl Over Trump Review They Fear Could Hammer Duck Populations Nationwide

August 07, 2026 12:49 PM ET American duck hunters are revolting over a quiet Trump administration review they fear could put some of the nation’s most important duck breeding grounds at risk.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened a 14-day public review July 24 of a 2024 rule governing how close farmers can install underground drainage pipes, known as “drain tile,” to federally protected prairie wetlands. The administration has not proposed changing the rule, but is asking whether the current protections are working and whether they should be revised.Duck hunters and major waterfowl conservation groups, including Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl, have spent the past two weeks urging the Trump administration to leave the protections in place — an unusual backlash from a constituency th